1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the selection and configuration of networked devices and the authentication of people who may wish to access one or more such devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many situations in which the same networked device(s) may be used by different people at different times. Such devices include, but are not limited to, personal computers (“PCs”), telephones, printers, web cameras, speakers and other peripheral devices. For example, if the same personal computer is shared by more than one person at a workplace, each person must log in separately and indicate his or her own device associations and preferences.
One example of a workplace in which the same networked equipment will be shared by multiple users during the same day is a “call center” operation, such as a customer service call center. Each call center station includes at least a telephone and an associated PC, and may include a headset, a printer and other peripheral devices. The same devices will be used by different people at different times of day. Moreover, each call center agent will typically take the first available seat, which will generally not be the same seat from one day to the next. Accordingly, each agent needs to log in separately upon arrival at the call center.
A graphical user interface (“GUI”) known as an “agent desktop” or a “supervisor desktop” is often used to control a call center agent's telephone access. Some such desktops are supplied by the present assignee under the product names Cisco Agent Desktop “CAD” and Cisco Supervisor Desktop “CSD”.
Among other things, the agent desktop allows the call center agent to indicate when the agent is ready to receive calls and when the agent is not. The agent needs to log into the “agent desktop” application and indicate “ready” by clicking on an area of the screen. The back end system then receives a “ready” indication and knows that calls can be routed to the agent. Similarly, if the agent clicks “not ready,” the back end system will not route calls to the agent.
However, when the agent leaves and forgets to indicate “not ready,” calls will continue to be routed to the agent. The calls will not be answered until the agent returns. Other systems may retrieve the call and return it to the queue for handling by another agent. In either case, the quality of customers' service is compromised. Such situations will lead to (or increase) customer dissatisfaction, particularly if the customers are calling because they are having some sort of problem with a device, a service, etc.
In some situations, the presence of more than one person is necessary for a particular operation to occur. For example, before a customer can access a safety deposit box in a bank vault, both the customer and a bank employee must locate and use a physical key. Similar situations arise when approval is required from a supervisor for, e.g., cashing a check for more than a predetermined amount of money, making a correction on a cash register, applying a promotional discount, etc.
It would be desirable to overcome these and other limitations of the prior art.